Dragon Age - Screenshot @ 1Up

November 3rd, 2006, 09:19

Announcing a Dragon Age preview in the current issue of the new US printmag Games For Windows (formerly known as Computer Gaming World), 1Up also presents a first screenshot of Bioware's next RPG. There's also this new info about the game:

- The story is dark-much darker than the usual BioWare fare-and influenced by "realistic" modern fantasy like George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones.
- The game uses an evolved "tactical real-time combat" style of Baldur's Gate, only in 3D-you queue up orders for multiple party members, pause the game when you need to think, and your party members will be able to execute coordinated attacks.
- Large-scale creature combat will have your characters doing stuff like ducking between legs and jumping on backs of monsters (dare we say dragons?).
- Even though Dragon Age isn't a D&D game, per se, BioWare is sticking close to those roots with the class and rules systems.
- The game uses a "modified" version of the Mass Effect conversation system we're all so keen on.
- Depending on the type of character you choose, the game offers multiple different "origin stories"-meaning the first few hours of the game will be totally different depending on which character archetype you choose.
- The game's actually coming out in late 2007 or early 2008.
- Bono makes a surprisingly good mentor.

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I was so excited when this game was announced, but that was several years ago by now. I certainly hope they get something worthwhile out of the extremely long production time, as expectations will be sky high be the time it is released. It does sound good though, let's just hope they stay true to their roots instead of turn it into a console style RPG.

Originally Posted by Maylander
I certainly hope they get something worthwhile out of the extremely long production time, as expectations will be sky high be the time it is released. It does sound good though, let's just hope they stay true to their roots instead of turn it into a console style RPG.

They announced Dragon Age so far in advance, before it had entered full-scale production, precisely to reassure their fans that they hadn't forgotten their roots. Or so says Derek French.

The only snag with these RPGs is their enourmously prolonged development cycle. Not only in terms of waiting but also in terms of what features are left ot/changed compared to the original concept. So what we can see now may end up to be entirely different. Just have a look at the 2004(!) screens. In no way are they reminiscent of the peresent visuals. And word is that the tentative release date is sometime in 2008.

Originally Posted by r3dshift
The only snag with these RPGs is their enourmously prolonged development cycle.

True enough, but I don't worry about the looks all that much … for a FPS, etc it is more important to get physics right (as I picked apart in my review of the Max Payne 2 clone 'El Matador') but for a RPG it is the other stuff that really matters. Heck, Avernum 4 is one of my top games of the last 12 months!

The screenie is indeed very different from the early ones--if I can remember back that far, I had a nice moody wallpaper of a ruined,dripping grey castle in the rain, very reminiscent of Icewind Dale or BG2--this does kind of look more TES-like.

Not a complaint, tho--as txa1265 says, the looks are far less important than the game mechanics, story, and hopefully challenging paused combat.

I wonder when we'll see a turn-based D&D game instead of realtime with pause ala Temple Of Elemental Evil. That would be awesome…

*sigh* TOEE was and is the buggiest game EVER. The Circle Of Eight mod has been around for a few years (since 2003 i believe, when the game was released) and fixes hundreds of bugs and scripting errors…and it's still not finished yet. Man, those Co8 guys rock.

ToEE wasnt that buggy fully patched without C08. I completed it anyway. Occasionally I had to escape out to the menu because of graphics issues but that fixed my biggest problem. The Nodes were very laggy. I couldnt dispell demons at the end… OK it was pretty buggy but my point is - you could easily complete the game.

Originally Posted by r3dshift
The only snag with these RPGs is their enourmously prolonged development cycle. Not only in terms of waiting but also in terms of what features are left ot/changed compared to the original concept. So what we can see now may end up to be entirely different. Just have a look at the 2004(!) screens. In no way are they reminiscent of the peresent visuals. And word is that the tentative release date is sometime in 2008.

Those screens were apparently done using the NWN engine, so looking back they obviously mocked up some stuff for the announcement waaaaaay before anything was finalised, including everything from the technology to much of the design.

Just an artist's rendition of what the artists might actually do. To quote Fallout 2…actual results may differ.

This is strange. I was beginning to think that this thing would be the next Duke Nukem Forever … this is the first news for it in like 2 years? And I actually prefered the previous look of the game, this feels like a cross up b/n TES and Gothic and prefer a new Troika title that would never happen over a Bioware one anytime.

I wish that I could see the screenshot. I can't get to that website. I always have problems getting to 1up.com and other ziff media sites.

I like the idea of using a D&D-like system, but one that is made from the ground up for real-time. I've always thought that a weakness of the other real-time-with-pause D&D games is the shoehorning of turn-based combat into real time. It seems like Bioware wanted to make another D&D game but didn't want to work with WotC or Atari, so they said "Screw you". "We'll make another Tolkienesque game with mostly the same rules but we'll call it Dragon Age." This means that they can do some different stuff. I hope that this game turns out well.